In the light of what has been going on recently on another thread I think we need to agree on a list of rules governing how people conduct themselves in political threads. We also need to decide whether we need a second mod as I feel that the lack of moderation has had a negative effect recently. 1. Can we please have an agreement which removes the use of personal abuse on this board - texts beginning with eg.'The rubbish that you write', do not belong here. We all need to respect the fact that other people have reasons for their beliefs which are as valid as our own. 2. Rules preventing overuse of racial/religious stereotypes such as all Moslems are....., or all Germans are.......etc. Also limiting the use of vocabulary which is detremental to other nations, groups etc. such as Kraut, Frog, Sweaty Sock, Gypo etc. These are open boards which I hope could be used by all members of our society regardles of age, sex, race, religion etc. without offense. 3. Not a problem here, but has been on other boards - the bringing in of pornographic links or other links likely to be problematic for the site as a whole (this happened last year). 4. Preventing the use of threatening language on boards - unbelievably this happened on another board a while back. 5. I always thought that we could 'police' our board without the use of mods - but this belief has been eroded recently. We cannot ignore a situation in which decent posters are being forced away from threads (or indeed forced away from the site entirely).
It's sad that it's come to this, but in the light of how some posters are using the Politics thread it's worth debating whether or not rules are the answer. I'm sure there are a few of us who are not short of opinions but don't see the point of engaging with others who think stereotypes, labelling and abuse are legitimate forms of argument. I have to conclude on the occasions I've looked through the thread that it's become a home for wind up merchants, despite the serious contributors, and I can't see the point in responding to them. In part of course they are succeeding by annoying others enough to make them withdraw from the thread and perhaps from the site.
I do my politiking on other sites, not here. At least I try to which is why my posts on the political threads are now few and far between. I do not really think that political threads are helpful on this site at all. I have kept my council regarding more recent events here because I know I will upset some people here (my opinions as to what constitutes a coward, for example, have had a negative impact for sure to those of us on both sides of that particular argument) and I do not consider that this is the forum for these debates. I say my piece on G+, YouTube and others. I will offend the religious among you because my honesty in such matters does not extend so far as to not offend you... you do not have the right not to be offended, and nor do I. This is not the same as being vulgar and abusive You do not have the right to expect me to respect your or anyone else's religious beliefs. Not here. It is far too divisive when we're all supposed to be together as Hornets, as football fans, on these boards. Emotions run high and hurtful things will be said. Human nature. I come here to get away from all that stuff. I like to discuss sport and entertainment here. I enjoy being asked my opinion on some aspect of football law as a former referee (something that happens much less frequently these days, alas) and on aspects of stadium design. Although a minimalist contributor I enjoy the goldfish bowl of the Hornets Nest 3 and the joke thread. Even the potting shed, and gardening is an anathema to me! There are plenty of other things to talk about without bringing religion and politics into it and I suggest we do away with these threads altogether.
Strangely , enough I'm with you on this superhorns ... freedom of speech is all well and good ..but millions of folk within this nation are not permitted to say what they truly believe . I have absolutely no desire to upset anyone ..So this is my last post on this thread ..cant do with being told off at 52 . Over and out . Jim
Fancy Watford for a sneaky win against Utd ....looking forward to making lots of noise , even if we go 3.0 down . This is the last post
Religion is more problematic than politics Fez (although I know that the 2 are often mixed) but I feel that we should be able to discuss politics in a civilized manner. They do this on other boards, mostly successfully. Maybe for debating threads we need a specific theme (eg. Trident, for and against) as would be the case in a real debate, as opposed to general political threads which have such a wide scope - and therefore have more chance of becoming toxic. I do not think we should ban such threads just because a few individuals cannot control themselves.
I was thinking more in terms of not bothering rather than banning, Cologne, sort of just finding other things to talk about. Is it me or are our numbers dwindling?
We have lost a number of old 606 members over the last couple of years...... perhaps we can invite our friends to join?
